The construction of homes and other structures has been a mainstay of the world's economy for many decades. The construction of houses and other structures will often require the erection of temporary structures in order to accomplish construction tasks or to maximize the safety of construction workers.
For example, safety railings are required by many construction codes where a construction worker will be working on a particular horizontal level and no barrier has yet been constructed to prevent the worker from falling to the level or ground below. Such safety railings are composed of sets of vertical posts mounted to gussets and mounting plates. The vertical posts are connected to one another by at least two horizontal railings, one along the ground (the “kick board” or “toe board”) and the other a few feet above the ground. Often a midrail will also be attached to the vertical posts between the two other horizontal railings. The safety railings and gussets are usually cut on site and thrown away when the railing is no longer required. As a result, a great deal of wood is used only temporarily on a construction site and then is sent away as waste. This waste of wood is expensive and damaging to the environment.
A number of U.S. patents disclose devices which attempt to make the erection of safety railings simpler and more modular. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,588 to Hilliard discloses a post base having a central column for receiving a vertical post and ridges which are adapted to receive the kick boards. This device only supports vertical posts and kick boards in a very specific orientation. In addition, the kick boards must be cut to very close tolerances to fit within the ridges if the post base is mounted to the floor before the railings are constructed. Finally, this device is also only useful for safety railings and not other temporary structures.
Accordingly, there is a need for a construction bracket which can be used in the assembly of safety rails and other temporary structures, which can be installed during all phases of the construction process (including after the installation of drywall or after the installation of hardwood flooring) which is flexible enough to allow for multiple lengths of wood and allows for reuse of the wood after the temporary structure is taken down.